Rally Portugal - 24 - 27 Mar 2011

Ogier clinches Portugal victory

Sebastien Ogier made up for his Mexico crash by winning the Rally of Portugal for a second consecutive year.

The Frenchman led team-mate Sebastien Loeb in a Citroen one-two, with a variety of problems consigning the Fords of Jari-Matti Latvala and Mikko Hirvonen to third and fourth.

There had been nothing to choose between the top four in the first half of the rally, until Hirvonen suffered a puncture on Saturday morning and Loeb lost time running in his dust after the Ford rejoined. A driveshaft breakage then slowed Latvala later in the day, while Hirvonen was hit with suspension and driveshaft problems.

But even before his rivals stumbled, Ogier had looked a likely winner. After a slow start, he moved into the lead halfway through Friday and then relinquished it and dropped to fourth to give himself a better road position for Saturday.

The plan succeeded and Ogier was able to charge back and reclaim the lead from Latvala prior to the Ford's problem. Citroen could then cruise through the final day to collect its one-two.

"I'm very happy with a perfect weekend," said Ogier. "I want to dedicate this victory to all the team because they prepared a perfect car and they trusted me even after the mistake in Mexico. This is the best way to come back."

Loeb now shares the championship lead with Hirvonen thanks to the three bonus points the Frenchman gained for being quickest on the rally-ending 'power stage'.

"I'm very happy with that. When I saw the rain this morning I didn't think I'd be fast in this one, but the conditions were not so bad, so I thought 'okay, I have to try'," said Loeb.

Latvala clinched third, while Hirvonen coped with another suspension issue in the final few miles to hold fourth.

Matthew Wilson popped up to fourth a few times as Hirvonen had his various glitches, but the works car retook the place for good on the penultimate stage, leaving Wilson to settle for a still-pleasing fifth.

A depressing four punctures in a single leg on Friday ended Petter Solberg's time among the leaders. He ran trouble-free thereafter and flew back up to sixth, blasting ahead of Kimi Raikkonen (Ice 1 Citroen) and Federico Villagra (Munchi's Ford) during the final short loop.

"I'm very, very sad about the first day, it's unbelievable," said Solberg. "But I never give up."

Henning Solberg would probably have been out of his brother's reach and held on to sixth until a turbo problem on the last two stages caused him to plunge to ninth.

Dennis Kuipers completed the top 10 in the Ferm Ford. Stobart Ford's Mads Ostberg spent most of the weekend running under superally after a crash on Thursday's superspecial and then a gearbox failure first thing on Friday, while Ken Block did not even start due to a ferocious crash on the shakedown stage on Wednesday.

The S2000 version of the new Mini made an excellent debut, holding seventh with Armindo Araujo until a puncture and engine issue on Saturday afternoon.

Hayden Paddon had such a margin over the Production field that even a suspension breakage this morning had no impact on his dominance, while Egon Kaur won the first ever WRC Academy round after Craig Breen and Alastair Fisher both crashed while leading.

Leading finishers:

Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Sebastien Ogier Citroen 4h10m53.4s
2. Sebastien Loeb Citroen + 31.8s
3. Jari-Matti Latvala Ford + 3m22.1s
4. Mikko Hirvonen Ford + 6m16.3s
5. Matthew Wilson Stobart Ford + 7m48.5s
6. Petter Solberg Solberg Citroen + 10m17.4s
7. Kimi Raikkonen Ice 1 Citroen + 10m54.1s
8. Federico Villagra Munchi's Ford + 11m38.8s
9. Henning Solberg Stobart Ford + 14m16.4s
10. Dennis Kuipers Ferm Ford + 17m54.6s

Other WRC finishers:

14. Khalid Al Qassimi Abu Dhabi Ford + 27m10.1s
22. Peter van Merksteijn Van Merksteijn Citroen + 39m39.6s
31. Mads Ostberg Stobart Ford + 59m29.4s

WRC retirements:

Bernardo Sousa Quinta Ford SS7
Ken Block Monster Ford DNS

Power stage leading results:

Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Sebastien Loeb Citroen 22m35.9s
2. Jari-Matti Latvala Ford + 1.7s
3. Sebastien Ogier Citroen + 4.1s
4. Petter Solberg Solberg Citroen + 15.5s
5. Mikko Hirvonen Ford + 22.0s

By Matt Beer
http://www.autosport.com

F1 - The Australian Grand Prix - 27.03.11

Vettel takes commanding Australia win

Sebastian Vettel opened his title defence with a comfortable victory in an Australian Grand Prix that proved intriguing, but not did deliver the level of incident predicted with the new DRS overtaking system and Pirelli tyres.

Lewis Hamilton coped with a broken floor on his McLaren to take second, but the star of the race was Renault's Vitaly Petrov, who made the most of an excellent start and a fine race drive thereafter to take his maiden podium in third.

While the top three made it to the finish on two stops, three-stop plans consigned Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) and Mark Webber (Red Bull) to fourth and fifth - though this was better than Alonso might have expected after falling to ninth at the first corner. Jenson Button was only sixth for McLaren after being penalised for an incident with Ferrari's Felipe Massa.

Vettel tore away from the field in the opening stages, leading by three seconds after just two laps, with Hamilton and Webber holding second and third.

Petrov had made an excellent start to blast through to fourth, with Button and Alonso going wide at Turn 1 as they went three-abreast with the Renault, allowing Massa to slip ahead of Button and leaving Alonso right down in ninth by the time he got off the kerbs and grass.

Alonso made very swift progress past Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber) and Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) and was soon catching Massa and Button - whose battle for fifth place was frantic. With his DRS making little difference, Button tried all kinds of creative lines to get ahead the Ferrari, with no success until lap 10, when he went around the outside into the fast right-left Turn 11/12 at the end of the back straight, but had to take to the escape road and cut the second part of the corner to complete it.

That would lead to a drive-through penalty, while Alonso immediately pounced and passed Massa into Turn 13 as the Brazilian regained momentum after his near-miss with Button.

Before he took his penalty, Button had a brief battle with Vettel, who had made a relatively early pitstop on lap 14 and emerged behind the Briton. Hamilton had whittled the Red Bull's lead down to 1.5s by then, but staying out two laps later before his first tyre stop cost the McLaren time to the leader rather than being an advantage - as even after having to battle past Button around the outside of Turn 4, Vettel was 6.5s clear of Hamilton once both were back up to speed.

That gap rapidly grew to 12s over the next stint - and the reason became clear when sparks started shooting out from under the McLaren, the front part of its floor having become detached and started rubbing on the ground. Aside from a trip over the Turn 1 grass, Hamilton did a remarkable job to keep his car both on the road and near the lead pace - though his chances of pressuring Vettel were over and the German cruised to an ultimately comfortable victory.

Webber could not keep up with the top two and by half-distance was 26s adrift and only just ahead of Petrov and Alonso. Both the Red Bull and Ferrari chose to make three pitstops, while Petrov - like Vettel and Hamilton - changed tyres just twice.

Alonso got ahead of Webber at the third stops, helped by the Red Bull running wide at Turn 3 on its out-lap. With Webber on the softer tyres for the final stint, he was able to attack Alonso at first, before the Ferrari pulled out some breathing space. Both charged up behind Petrov in the final laps, but the Russian had just enough in hand to hold on and take a brilliant third. Fifth-placed Webber parked his Red Bull on the grass immediately after crossing the line.

Button fell to 12th following his penalty but recovered to sixth, finally making it past Massa again with 12 laps to go. The Ferrari then made a late tyre stop, leaving Massa ninth behind the two Saubers.

Sergio Perez was a remarkable seventh on his debut, having managed to get through the distance with just a single tyre change on lap 23. That left him not far adrift of Button, and clear of Sauber team-mate Kobayashi.

Sebastien Buemi took the last point for Toro Rosso, with the Force Indias of Adrian Sutil and Paul di Resta running in the points for a while before falling back to 11th and 12th.

Rubens Barrichello provided plenty of entertainment in the first half of the race, as he recovered from a first-lap trip over the Turn 3 gravel and scorched through the field with a series of overtaking moves. But a wild long-distance dive down the inside of Nico Rosberg's Mercedes at Turn 3 on lap 23 was just too bold, and left Barrichello spinning, needing a new front wing and earning a drive-through penalty. Rosberg had to retire in a cloud of smoke, his cooling system seemingly damaged in the impact, while Barrichello eventually parked his car too.

His team-mate Michael Schumacher sustained a puncture when hit by Toro Rosso's Jaime Alguersuari on the first lap, and eventually retired due to the after-effects after 19 laps trailing around at the back. Alguersuari needed a new front wing and finished 13th.

Petrov's Renault team-mate Nick Heidfeld made little progress from his poor grid position and was only 14th ahead of final finishers Jarno Trulli (Lotus) and Jerome D'Ambrosio (Virgin). Timo Glock's Virgin, Heikki Kovalainen's Lotus and Pastor Maldonado's Williams all retired with mechanical issues.

The Australian Grand Prix
Albert Park, Melbourne, Australia;
58 laps; 307.574km;
Weather: Sunny.

Classified:

Pos Driver Team Time
1. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1h29:30.259
2. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 22.297
3. Petrov Renault + 30.560
4. Alonso Ferrari + 31.772
5. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 38.171
6. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 54.300
7. Perez Sauber-Ferrari + 1:05.800
8. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 1:16.800
9. Massa Ferrari + 1:25.100
10. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap
11. Sutil Force India-Mercedes + 1 lap
12. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 1 lap
13. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap
14. Heidfeld Renault + 1 lap
15. Trulli Lotus-Renault + 2 laps
16. D'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth + 3 laps

Fastest lap: Massa, 1:28.947

Not classified/retirements:

Driver Team On lap
Glock Virgin-Cosworth 50
Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 49
Rosberg Mercedes 22
Kovalainen Lotus-Renault 19
Schumacher Mercedes 19
Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 10
Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth 1
Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1


World Championship standings, round 1:

Drivers: Constructors:
1. Vettel 25 1. Red Bull-Renault 35
2. Hamilton 18 2. McLaren-Mercedes 26
3. Petrov 15 3. Renault 15
4. Alonso 12 4. Ferrari 14
5. Webber 10 5. Sauber-Ferrari 10
6. Button 8 6. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1
7. Perez 6
8. Kobayashi 4
9. Massa 2
10. Buemi 1

By Matt Beer
http://www.autosport.com

Rally Mexico - 03 - 06 Mar 2011

Loeb clinches another Mexico victory

Sebastien Loeb took the fifth Rally Mexico win of his career in ultimately dominant fashion once his rally-long rival Sebastien Ogier crashed out on the final leg.

The event was dominated by the two works Citroens, with Ogier leading most of day one apart from a brief period when Loeb nosed ahead.

Loeb then took charge on Saturday as Ogier lost a little - though not much - time running first on the road. But it turned around again when Loeb picked up a 50-second penalty for being late into SS15 having had to fix a gearshift issue before the stage start.

This put Ogier back in front, although he could perhaps consider himself lucky to escape any penalty for accidentally driving into service before the rescheduled regroup on Friday lunchtime - an incident examined in two stewards' meeting.

Loeb was soon closing in once more, helped by Ogier suffering a temporary loss of power, and the champion emerged with a commanding lead when Ogier went off on Sunday's first stage and damaged his Citroen too badly to continue.

That left Loeb to cruise to the finish and get his 2011 title bid started with the 63rd win of his World Rally Championship career.

"That was a very hard weekend, a terrible fight with Ogier until today," said Loeb. "He was really, really pushing hard.

"I think we've done nearly a perfect weekend, some small troubles but not many for a new car. I'm satisfied with the performance - the DS3 is very fast."

Ford ended a tough event with a double podium for Mikko Hirvonen and Jari-Matti Latvala. Hirvonen dropped back while running first on the road on Friday - and was very perturbed when he carried on losing time even when he had a better road position for leg two. But he retained the championship lead and also grabbed the bonus points for winning the rally-ending power stage. Latvala was delayed by two punctures.

The combination of rough stages, high altitudes and hot temperatures meant a high attrition rate for the still-new 2011 WRC machines. Petter Solberg recovered to fourth despite losing seven minutes with an electrical glitch on his Solberg Citroen on Friday, Stobart Ford's Mads Ostberg rebounded from a puncture to drive carefully to fifth and his team-mate Henning Solberg took sixth despite miscellaneous glitches.

The other two Stobart entries retired when well-placed: Matthew Wilson losing a possible career-best finish to electrical failure when fourth, and Evgeny Novikov's engine overheating due to radiator damage while fifth on his return to the championship.

Dennis Kuipers rolled the Ferm Ford out of seventh on leg two, and Ken Block managed to retire the Monster Ford no fewer than three times, thanks to two electrical failures, and a minor accident. Remarkably he was still on course for 10th until yet another electrical glitch on the penultimate stage dropped him to 13th.

The attrition rate was such that Federico Villagra came back to take a point in the Munchi's Ford despite picking up a day's worth of superally penalties when he took a wheel off the car on Friday's first stage, struggling with brake problems on his return and then breaking a driveshaft on the final stage.

Kimi Raikkonen was not present this time - Mexico being one of the events he is skipping in his reduced 2011 programme.

Nasser Al-Attiyah hung on to take S2000 class victory in seventh overall ahead of the fast-closing Martin Prokop. Ott Tanak had been Al-Attiyah's main rival until crashing on Saturday, while Juho Hanninen never regained the ground lost when he spun and broke reverse gear on Friday's opener. He escaped a penultimate-stage roll to finish third in class, ninth overall.

Leading finishers:

Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Sebastien Loeb Citroen 3h53m17.0s
2. Mikko Hirvonen Ford + 1m38.4s
3. Jari-Matti Latvala Ford + 2m23.9s
4. Petter Solberg Solberg Citroen + 7m18.4s
5. Mads Ostberg Stobart Ford + 8m43.5s
6. Henning Solberg Stobart Ford + 9m50.0s
7. Nasser Al-Attiyah Barwa Ford + 13m21.5s
8. Martin Prokop Czech Ford + 13m35.0s
9. Juho Hanninen Red Bull Skoda + 14m48.7s
10. Federico Villagra Munchi's Ford + 48m17.2s

By Matt Beer
http://www.autosport.com